


i'm happy (to know you)

by starfolds



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Nothing but pure fluff, Some references to the Looming Graduation but it's still fluff promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:47:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23751817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starfolds/pseuds/starfolds
Summary: a tiny fill for day 7 of kuroken week || realizations"You're lost in thought."

Tetsurou shrugs, because he has no answer to give.I was thinking about your shouldersis something even he can't suddenly spring on Kenma.
Relationships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou
Comments: 9
Kudos: 53
Collections: Kuroken Week 2020





	i'm happy (to know you)

**Author's Note:**

> title from paperweight by joshua radin and schuyler fisk
> 
> this is a story that has been written and rewritten countless times in this fandom but i've always wanted to write something like it for kuroken so. ♥

_His shoulders are broad._

It's a thought that strikes Tetsurou out of nowhere, one that stuns him enough Kenma manages to get ahead of him by a considerable distance.

How many years, how many months, how many times have they done this—walking home together, starting out side-by-side? How sometimes (oftentimes) it's a too-distracted Kenma who falls behind. How he rushes other times, when he's too eager to get back within the confines of his room. It's Tetsurou who acts like an ass and stalls the both of them on purpose by keeping a heavy arm around Kenma’s shoulders to set their pace.

(Kenma has a mean elbow; Tetsurou can't keep it up for long, but what few seconds he can manage to steal to prolong their time together? He takes, unashamedly.)

The light by the crosswalk remains red. Kenma looks back and raises an eyebrow in question. Tetsurou adjusts the bag slung over his own shoulder and shoves his hand inside his pocket. He comes to a halt beside Kenma with five seconds left on the timer.

"You're lost in thought." Kenma states the phrase like it's a fact, like there is no question, like there is no other option there is. He knows Tetsurou, just as much as Tetsurou knows him. There's no hiding when the friendship has lasted this long.

Tetsurou shrugs, because he has no answer to give. _I was thinking about your shoulders_ is something even he can't suddenly spring on Kenma.

(He can, actually. He knows he can. Kenma will judge his idiocy but a statement like that will not destroy what they have. It's not even overconfidence if he believes nothing in this world can.)

"Don't strain yourself too hard." The light turns green. Tetsurou manages to ruffle Kenma's hair before he escapes to walk ahead again. It probably sounds like a dismissal, doesn't it? How Kenma only spares him the briefest glance before leaving him behind again.

But Kenma's pace has slowed. He's now further inside the sidewalk in his effort to keep his attention focused on Tetsurou from the corner of his eye. It's his version of _I know this is a case of: you need space but not_ too much space _because lord knows you're ridiculous, so I won't be more than a stone's lazy throw away until you start radiating_ Kenma, I need a hug _again at me, at which I won't complain too loudly when you drape your heavy self all over my back and even tolerate your ridiculousness for longer than usual because I'm nice like that._

("Kenma doesn't ramble like that," Yaku said disbelievingly the one time Tetsurou told him about this version of Kenma.

"It's the _thought_ , Yaku."

"Are you sure you don't have a fever."

That ended up a good five-minute bickering with some headlocks thrown in, only halted by the school bell. A good memory, that.)

His shoulders are hunched again, Tetsurou notices.

Which brings him back to his initial thought.

Kenma keeps them hunched, as a default. Like he wants to make himself smaller than he already is, like he wants to hide from how everyone and everything tends to be too overwhelming. Kenma’s good at that, hiding from attention. Escaping and sidling away without anyone noticing, like he’s somehow managed to perfectly adapt in real life the stealth techniques ever-present in those numerous games of his.

(A strategy he almost never uses within the game itself, strangely enough. Kenma is ruthless and faces his enemies and tasks straight on obsessively, uncaring for even proper shielding at times. He wins through sheer brute strength steeped with flawless technique and it’s always inspiring to watch.)

Those shoulders have always looked frail as they framed his tiny body. Too small to carry the weight of an overflowing, too-heavy gym bag, or too weak to stand under Lev’s few (unsuccessful) attempts to lean his entire weight on them with both his hands.

Kenma’s always had bad posture, and even volleyball hasn’t managed to correct it entirely. He’s always curved into a ball any chance he gets, uncaring at how easily he gets dismissed as vulnerable and unimportant by any opponent they meet on the court.

Tetsurou knows first-hand how weak those shoulders can be.

How weak they _were._

Because those shoulders have never crumbled, have they? They curve and curl and hunch repeatedly into themselves but they endure. They persist. Pride and stubbornness and sheer _will_ line those shoulders along with every centimetre of Kenma’s body. Tetsurou may be the captain who bears a good chunk of the club’s responsibilities, but he built his team around Kenma, and Kenma, not once, has shattered under that massive weight.

His shoulders are just as strong, just as sturdy, just as firm. They will _continue_ to be strong and sturdy and firm in bearing the entire volleyball club on their small shoulders—yes, they’re small and they’ll continue to be small—and yet. They’re also broad.

Kenma is about to turn the corner, and Tetsurou is just far enough that he will disappear from sight for a few seconds.

Just like graduation, really. That too, is but a corner of time away, too near for comfort, too near to be ignored. Except this time, it’s Tetsurou taking the turn while Kenma walks straight ahead.

Tetsurou breaks into a sprint. His long legs close the distance between them in seconds. He drapes an extra heavy arm around those shoulders that inexplicably torment him and ignores Kenma’s grunt of protest.

“Kenma.”

“Hmm.”

“I like your shoulders.”

“Good for you.”

“I like it just as much as I like the rest of you.”

“As you should.”

“ _Kenma._ ” He doesn’t even bother looking up, of course he doesn’t. His right thumb continues to fly over the keyboard of his phone as he sends a (surprisingly) lengthy message in reply. Tetsurou shamelessly reads along. “‘Go for it. He’s not as stubborn and pigheaded like Kuro—’ _oi Kenma._ ”

“That’s why you don’t snoop around other people’s texts.”

“I know you’re only being extra mean because I can see them.”

“That’s how I talk about you normally.”

“I thought you loved me!” The whine gushes out from all 188 centimetres of Kuroo Tetsurou.

“I do, unfortunately.” Tetsurou bites down on his lower lip only because he can already feel the strain in his jaw in trying to contain the huge smile trying to break out from his face. There’s the slightest tug on the ends of his jacket as Kenma grabs hold of it with the hand that was once in his pocket.

 _Are you okay?_ Is what the tug asks.

Tetsurou gives his _I’m okay_ in the form of an easily masked brush of lips along the crown of Kenma’s head.

He’s okay, Kenma’s okay.

They’re both okay.

And they’ll _continue_ to be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> this was... pretty much 1k-ish words of kuro staring in awe at kenma's shoulders, idek guys


End file.
